Truex Jr. to be Sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, 5-Hour Energy in 2018

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor

With Furniture Row Racing announcing that they would only be fielding one team in 2018, the big question was what would happen to the sponsorship from 5-Hour Energy currently on the team’s No. 77 entry.

That question was answered on Sunday morning when the team announced that 5-Hour, as well as Bass Pro Shops and Auto Owner’s Insurance would be the primary sponsors for Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 78 team for 36 of the 38 races next year.

Bass Pro and 5-Hour will combine to sponsor 30 of those races (16 for Bass Pro and 14 for 5-Hour Energy), while Auto Owner’s will once again sponsor six races. The sponsor for the final two races will be named in the coming weeks.

The Bass Pro Shops paint scheme will feature the same familiar orange hue that has been featured on the car the last couple of years, and 5-Hour’s scheme will be dominated by the red and yellow colors featured in their company logo.

“I am looking forward to continuing my association with Bass Pro Shops and my good friend Johnny Morris and building a bigger and stronger relationship with 5-hour ENERGY,” said Truex. “The sponsorship package is a neat concept and it will be our responsibility to make sure we deliver both on and off the track for these highly-visible and successful companies.”

The sponsorship package, which will also include business to business opportunities for the two companies, is a huge step forward for Furniture Row Racing, as the team has been largely self-funded by team owner Barney Visser since their inception back in 2005.

“This type of a co-primary sponsorship has been made a reality only because of the incredible cooperation between Johnny Morris and his Bass Pro team, along with Rise’ Meguiar and her 5-hour ENERGY team,” said Visser. “It took a number of conversations and a spirit of partnership to make this happen and we thank Bass Pro Shops and 5-hour ENERGY for being open-minded to this concept. Bass Pro and 5-hour ENERGY are winning companies and we will do everything we can on the racetrack to provide them not only with a winning team but represent them in the highest standard. We also want to give a special thank you to Auto-Owners Insurance for its cooperation in moving markets around to enable this overall partnership with Bass Pro Shops and 5-hour ENERGY to work.”

This season has been another breakout year for the No. 78 team, with Truex winning six races, the regular season points championship, and currently leading the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings, having already punched his ticket into the Round of 8.